


His First Rebellion

by TheFoolsKnight



Series: Lbotw Countdown Event [1]
Category: The Eldest Curses Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec hates talking about feelings, Bromance, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, How Do I Tag, Motorcycles, New York City, Parabatai Feels, Platonic feels, Talking, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26048026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsKnight/pseuds/TheFoolsKnight
Summary: Jace and Alec are both busy with life, until Jace drags Alec out for a 'bro's night' to spend some time together.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Jace Wayland
Series: Lbotw Countdown Event [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890874
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62





	His First Rebellion

The ball rolled neatly across the alley and struck down all the pins placed at the end.

"Strike!" Jace cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Alec just shot him a small smile.

"Honestly, I'd care more if you  _ didn't  _ get a strike," he said, taking Jace’s place and picking up one of the balls. Closing one eye, he aimed and threw it. Just like Jace’s throw, it went and made a clean strike.

Jace looked around them, and grinned at the all the reverent faces turned to the two of them. "Looks we're the champions here."

"More like cheaters. We have an advantage over the others. Obviously we'd get all strikes."

Jace tutted. "You make it sound like we're doping when we're just using our God-given gifts."

He moved to the open end of the bowling alley and picked up a new ball. "Now let's make this a hat-trick."

Neither of the two parabatai were surprised when this ball ended in a strike, too. Jace flashed Alec a grin, and Alec, with a smaller grin of his own, took Jace’s place.

After Alec finished his turn, Jace frowned and said, "This is way too easy. Let's do something else."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "This was  _ your  _ idea."

"Well, it was Simon's idea," Jace pointed out. "He said it would be hard. Clearly, he hasn't thought of going bowling after becoming a Shadowhunter."

Alec’s face took on a resigned expression. "Fine, what do you want to do?"

Jace smiled. “Just follow me.”

Planning a 'bro's night out' had never been on Jace’s bucket list, and yet here he was. 

Three years ago it had just been him, Alec and Isabelle in the institute, training to become Shadowhunters under the care of their parents and their tutor, Hodge. Then Clary and Simon and Magnus had come crashing into their lives and it was all uphill from there. Things had changed, mostly for the better, but sometimes Jace still felt a twinge of nostalgia for those days when it was only the three of them.

The nostalgia hit even harder now, when Alec was busy between the Alliance and raising Max, and Jace had to spend his time reading boring papers in the library as Interim Head of the Institute. So he'd done what anyone would do - he cleared his schedule for a night and dragged Alec out to spend a night together after convincing him that Magnus would be able to handle Max on his own.

"What are you planning now?" Alec asked as they walked along the pavement, stretching his arms. "So far we've done bowling, hit a few fast food stops, karaoke - speaking of which, if you show that video to anyone, I’m going to kill you.”

“Relax,” Jace said. “I was planning to show it only to Magnus.”

Alec’s expression turned into a sloppy frown, and Jace had to suppress a bark of laughter.

“In that case,” Alec said, his frown dissipating, and a familiar glint appearing in his eyes. “You won’t mind me showing your video to Clary.”

Jace groaned. Alec cracked a grin at that.

“Okay, fine,” Jace conceded. “Let’s make a mutual agreement not to let anyone see those videos of us taking turns and embarrassing ourselves by singing in front of a crowd, and occasionally use said videos as blackmail material.”

“I don’t know about the blackmail material part,” Alec mused. “But I agree to the rest.”

“Deal,” Jace said. He pulled out the address and checked his messages, confirming that the address they were heading to was the correct one.

“Seriously, what are you planning?” Alec asked. 

“It’s a surprise,” Jace said simply, to which Alec answered by looking away and muttering a string of curses under his breath. “Trust me. This surprise is worth it.”

Alec sighed. “If you say so. What’s up with you today, anyway?”

Jace froze and turned to Alec. “What?”

“No offence.” Alec pushed away a few strands of black hair that had fallen in his face. “But it isn’t like you to just… you know.”

“It isn’t like me to what?”

“Doing mundane stuff,” Alec said. “I mean, I know you’ve been getting more into the mundane world lately, but you usually do these things with Simon or Clary, not me.”

“Well, honestly?” Jace said, his throat feeling dry. “I missed you.”

“We see each other everyday.”

“Yes, but-“ The words were rapidly coming out of Jace’s mouth now. “Remember when it was just us and we used to spar in the training room every morning and geek out over bikes when we patrolled every night? And we used play all sorts of pranks on Isabelle, even if it ended up in us getting caught and having her dump a vat of glitter all over us. You were my first best friend, and it was the two of us against the world, and then I got closer to Isabelle and it was the three of us against the world, until we met Clary and Simon and Magnus - don’t get me wrong, I love them all, even Simon, but don’t ever tell him that. It’s just that sometimes I miss the days when I had you all to myself, you know? And now it’s even harder, because you’re busy making a family with Magnus, not to mention the Alliance, and I’m in line to run the Institue, and sometimes I miss those simpler days so I just thought- What?”

Jace had been so absorbed in his monologue that he didn’t notice Alec staring at him with a look of deep disdain, his face suggesting that he'd rather be at one of Simon's band's terrible shows than right here in this moment. 

"You just  _ had  _ to bring up feelings, huh?" Alec grumbled. The topic of feelings was, for some reason, nauseating for him.

"Clary says it's good to talk about feelings," Jace pointed out. 

"Doesn't matter. I still hate it," Alec said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Ckearly, no matter what happened, he would still be Jace’s sometimes grumpy, sometimes partner-in-crime but always caring  _ parabatai.  _

"Okay, fine," Alec conceded with a sigh, even though Jace hadn't said anything. "You were my first best friend, too, and sometimes I miss you too, but I'm your parabatai and I'm not going anywhere. Our lives have already changed a hundred times over, and this is just another of those times, and we'll get through this. _ Wither thou goest, I will go.Wither thou lodgest, I will lodge.  _ That's all I'm going to say."

Jace smiled the smallest of victorious smiles. "As you wish."

But there was a lot more to it. Alec had been more than just Jace’s first friend.

The first few times Jace and Alec had ever sparred, he had thought that Alec was a terrible fighter - not because of his techniques, but because he always pulled back when he could've hit Jace with his staff, always told Jace where his weak points were and helped him correct them, while Jace always took any opportunity to knock Alec off his feet. He had grown up with Valentine, who taught Jace that the world was a cruel place that would put him down any chance it got, that he had to hold his own against the world. Even Isabelle never held back, which was why Jace was always surprised when Alec did.

Back when he was still new to the Institute, Isabelle disliked him, Max adored him, and Maryse and Robert were still learning how to be good parents to him. But Alec always looked out for him, helping him tend to his injuries when he was used to doing it alone, letting him stay in Alec's room when he had nightmares, the silence between them comfortable then as it was now.

He'd often think of the silent brother's words, spoken to him only moments before he had met Alec, that having a parabatai made you a better warrior. But slowly he came to realize, that he didn’t need a good fighter to make himself better, what he needed was a good friend.

Valentine had taught him that in this world, Jace only ever needed himself. But he realized that that wasn't true, that it was okay to need someone else.

Alec wasn't just Jace’s first friend. He was his first rebellion against Valentine, against the only truth he had known back then.

"We're here," Jace said, pulling Alec into the parking lot of the supermarket. "And, I had Lily do me a favour."

"Lily did  _ you  _ a favour?" Alec asked, his eyes widening. 

"I had to tell her it was for you to get her to agree," Jace explained. Turning to look at Alec, he added, "You may be more popular now, but don’t forget that I'm the more handsome."

"Sure," Alec said dryly, his lips twitching up into a small smile.

Jace walked towards a tarp-covered misshaped heap at the far end of the parking lot, and pulled the tarp off in one swift move. He heard Alec gasp, and when he turned to look at him, was pleased to see the glow in his eyes.

"Are those-" The question hung in mid-air, unfinished as Alec reached out to touch one of the steel and leather contraptions. 

"Vampire motorcycles?" Jace finished for him. "Yes, they are."

Alec let out a short laugh at that, and swung his legs over one of the motorcycles. He revved the engine experimentally, and was pleased to hear the resulting screech.

"There's still a long time before sunrise," Jace said, taking the other motorcycle. "Wanna race to the East River?"

Alec shot him a devilish grin. "You bet."


End file.
